I’m a born and bread Rhode Islander, but hadn’t been to a lot of the restaurants on this tour and thought this would be a great way to check them all out. The food at 4 out of 6 restaurants on the tour was awesome. Two were a little disappointing - I was hoping for more variety to really get a feel for the food, and one little crostini with a small scoop of toppings didn’t cut it for me compared to the samplers at the others. However, by the end I was thankful not all of them had bigger portions, because I was STUFFED. I also thought we’d get drinks at each location, but only 3 served and the others only provided water (I would’ve been happy with a sample of a non-alcoholic drink too, but that wasn’t the case). The reason I give this 5 stars really was our tour guide Lanie. She was so personable, and you could tell she really enjoyed the subject matter. She also has a great relationship with the restaurants, so we were able to meet the passionate owners behind the food and hear their stories. That was one of the best parts. Highly recommend whether you’re from the area, or just in town for the weekend.
Response from Host
Jun 2021
Thank you Alex for taking the time to leave a review. We’re really happy to hear that Lanie made your experience so enjoyable. Our tours are meant for everyone to be introduced to new restaurants, the backgrounds and inspiration for them and the chef’s, while getting a food sampling from each. The restaurants are representative of both local and cultural foods in New England, the South, France and Greece all of which have their own cultural differences. In the end, we expect everyone will have had enough food for a comfortable lunch and it’s certainly a bonus if someone feels stuffed in the end.
That said, we recognize everyone is different in both what is enough or what they like, some tastings are sweet, some are savory, some are small and some are larger portions, it’s meant to be more of an experience rather than about the quantity. The hope is you will be intrigued enough to go back and try something new.
As for the 3 alcohol tastings, they are meant to be an enhancement purposely paired with the food tastings and is clearly stated in the ticketing process for an additional $15, while fresh water is offered elsewhere, otherwise we would have to charge much more whether it is alcohol or something else.
At the end of the day, it sounds like your overall experience was positive. Its great as a RI’er you will be able to find new places you had never been to before and will be able to go back to your favorites in the future.
Thank you for taking our tour.